Hair clip with stem retainer

ABSTRACT

A flower holder includes a liquid container having a diameter, length, and taper to retain fluid in the container even when one end of the container is not capped. A retainer is coupled to the container, with a first moveable portion and a second portion fixed to the container. The holder includes a cap with a resizable orifice.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to USA provisional application no. 61/225,876 filed on Jul. 15, 2009, which is presently pending and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to flower clips.

BACKGROUND

A custom for many occasions involves women or girls wearing flowers in their hair, on their wrists, or attached to clothing. Men sometimes will also wear flowers, for example at formal occasions where a flower might be word in a jacket vest pocket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, the same reference numbers and acronyms identify elements or acts with the same or similar functionality for ease of understanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number in which that element is first introduced.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an embodiment of a flower retaining and refreshing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an embodiment of different embodiments of a flower retaining apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an embodiment of a flower retaining apparatus applied to flower worn in the hair.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an embodiment of a stem being inserted into an embodiment of a flower retaining apparatus.

FIG. 5 a is an illustration of an embodiment of a top view of an embodiment of a flower retaining apparatus.

FIG. 5 b is an illustration of an embodiment of a side view of an embodiment of a flower retaining apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an embodiment of a side view of an embodiment of a flower retaining apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preliminaries

References to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although they may.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural or singular number respectively. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. When the claims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list and any combination of the items in the list.

Overview

A flower retainer includes a liquid container having an inner reservoir shaped (e.g.

diameter, length, and taper) to harness surface tension effects to retain fluid in the container even when one end of the container is not capped. A retainer is attached to or formed from the container. The retainer has a first moveable portion and a second portion affixed to the container and a cap with a resizable orifice. The retainer may include protrusions and a latch component attached to or formed from the container. The moveable portion of the retainer may be hinged to the container. Protrusions on the movable portion of the retainer and on the container may be positioned to mate with one another.

The container is formed to have an advantageous shape. In particular, the container may be formed to have a length to widest diameter ratio of between six and eight, and/or a widest diameter to narrowest diameter ratio between 1.7 and 2.3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A flower holder 100 comprises a body 102 forming a liquid container and a container cap 108 adapted to retain liquid within the container 102 even in the presence of a stem of a flower 110 inserted into the container 102. The container may be made from materials including but not limited to polypropylene. A fastener 104 may include features 106 that may function as finger placements and also have a decorative aspect.

The retainer 104 and finger placements 106 may vary in different embodiments as shown for example in FIG. 2.

The retainer 104 is shown oriented with a long axis along a length of the container 102. However, in other embodiments the retainer 104 may be oriented with the long axis at different angles to the length of the container 102, including at a right angle.

A flower holder is shown worn in the hair; however it may also be affixed to a corsage, on a lapel, in a vest pocket, and so forth. Applications are not limited to affixing a flower in a person's hair. Other applications of the flower holder 100 include a men's boutonniere, purse or hat decor, mounted on a headband, and mounted on a Christmas tree. In light of these examples other applications will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

Despite the presence of a stem inserted into the container 102, a combination of length, diameter, taper, and possibly other aspects of the container 102 cooperate to harness capillary forces and/or surface tension of the fluid to tend to retain the fluid within the container 102. A seal on the cap 108 may not be perfectly watertight, but in cooperation with the container 102 may retain fluid without leakage even when a person wearing the container 102 with a flower inserted is active and moving about. In some embodiments, the container 102 comprises an inner reservoir (FIG. 5—512) shaped (e.g. length, diameter, and taper) to harness surface tension effects of the fluid so that fluid is retained and does not spill out even if the cap 108 comes off.

Exemplary dimensions for the container 102 (US inches) are:

Length: 1.75

Wide end diameter (inner): 0.218 (inner), 0.325 (outer), 0.310 (outer, below an optional

step—not shown—for retaining the cap 108)

Narrow end diameter: 0.116 (inner), 0.200 (outer)

These are merely examples of possible dimensions for the container 102. Those skilled in the art may in light of this disclosure ascertain other dimensions that have the effect of retaining fluid in the container even with the cap off, utilizing surface tension effects.

In one embodiment a choke point 602 is formed in the container 102 creating a neck 604 through which the stem of a flower is inserted. The cooperative action of the choke point 602 and stem retain fluid in the container 102 even when cap 108 becomes loose or falls off. In some embodiments a cap 108 may not even be needed due to the effective cooperative action of the choke point 602 and stem.

The cap 108 may be formed from a flexible material 508 such as rubber. An orifice 510 may be formed therein. The orifice 510 may be dynamically resizable to retain flower stems of varying diameters without enabling substantial leakage through the cap 108.

A section 504 of the retainer 104 may be hingeably coupled to the container 102 and may include protrusions 506 to engage hair, clothing, or other flexible materials when the hinged section 504 is pressed down against the body 102. Protrusions 506 may also be formed on the container 102 to engage with counterpart protrusions 506 on the hinged section 504. A hook and lip 502 are one example of a retaining mechanism 502 to secure the hinged section 504 to the container 102. The retainer 502 may be tensioned so that a piece of hair intervening in the mechanism will not cause it to disengage.

The container 102 and retainer 104 may be formed as a single molded piece. The section 504 may be limited to 45 degrees of separation from the container 102 (in general, less than 90 degrees of separation permitted) via a limit stop 514 or other mechanism. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A apparatus comprising: a liquid container having an inner reservoir shaped to harness surface tension to retain fluid in the container even when one end of the container is not capped; a retainer coupled with the container, the retainer having a first moveable portion and a second fixed portion; and a cap with a resizable orifice for the container.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retainer further comprises: protrusions and a latch component formed from the container.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first moveable portion is hingeably coupled to the container and limited to open less than ninety degrees from the container.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retainer further comprises: first protrusions on the movable portion and second protrusions formed from the container, the first and second protrusions positioned to mate with one another.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liquid container further comprises: a length to widest diameter ratio between six and eight.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liquid container further comprises: a widest diameter to narrowest diameter ratio between 1.7 and 2.3. 